The following is the testimony of some of the more important witnesses before the Coroner’s Jury. It is taken from the short hand report made at the time, but abridged as much as possible.
I was foreman of the raising of the bridge; superintended the screwing of nuts to bring the strain upon the vertical rods; Amasa Stone examined it and said my part of the work was well done; after knocking out the blocks, the bridge settled six inches; it settled gradually as we put in thinner blocks and took them out to put in still thinner ones; it was not in use during this time; Mr. Stone then decided to reconstruct the bridge, by changing the position of certain irons and braces; the bridge was constructed after this design, with one exception; the struts running from the bottom cord to the middle of the first pair of braces were not put in till afterward; a change was made in the arrangement of the upper cords, which were shortened; after these changes Mr. Stone examined it without taking out the blocks, and pronounced it good; the false work remained in position from October, 1865, to November, 1866.
Cross-examined--When the bridge was first put up, it settled, and I made the remark that if it kept on, it would go into the creek; perhaps I told it to half a dozen others; said it was not Mr. Collins’ bridge, but Mr. Stone’s; said the bridge had cost a great deal of money, but don’t recollect saying it would cost the company a great deal more; was discouraged because the bridge acted so, and that I couldn’t see how to remedy it; remember all this was before the modifications were made; Mr. Congdon was with Mr. Stone when the bridge was examined; the plan of changing the braces was then adopted.
Mr. Albert Congdon, testified as follows: At the time of the construction of this bridge I was employed by the Lake Shore Road as master machinist; knew something about the construction of this bridge, as I had charge of the work in making the bridge; found a lack of material to fill the place for which it was designed; told Mr. Thompson about it, and he wanted to know if he had better let Mr. Stone know it; told him he had better; a short time afterward I was told to take the plans and finish the construction of the bridge as I thought it should be done; do not know how far the work had progressed at the time I assumed control; the braces were not marked so as to designate the position they were to occupy; never calculated the strength of the tension of compression members; did not say much to Mr. Tomlinson or any other man about the bridge, as I did not consider myself a competent bridge man; from the time of Mr. Tomlinson leaving, I had the management of constructing the bridge; Mr. Rogers told me that Mr. Stone had given him orders to erect it, but he did not know how; I asked him why he did not go and tell Mr. Stone so, and he said that he did not like to; I then told him as much as I knew.